Northlanders to fore at awards

Northland athletes dominated the AUT University annual Blues Awards, with Black Stick Samantha Harrison and Paralympic swimmer Cameron Leslie claiming top honours.

Harrison and Leslie were named the respective female and male athlete of the year from an impressive line up of athletes at the awards' function at the North Shore Campus. Added to this, fellow Northlander New Zealand Football Fern Hannah Wilkinson was named the Sportswoman of the Year, an accolade which recognises sporting success, as well as academic excellence and contributions to the community. Sportsman of the year went to Tall Black Casey Frank.

Cameron Leslie represented New Zealand this year at the Para-swimming World Championships in Canada winning gold in the 150m medley and silver in the 50m backstroke. He was also selected to represent New Zealand's wheelchair rugby team, who are contesting the Oceania Zonal Championships in Korea next month - a qualifying tournament for next year's Paralympics.

The 21-year-old who holds a New Zealand Order of Merit, won a gold medal in the men's 150m individual medley at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing. His winning time of 2:33.57 broke the previous world record by more than a second.

This year, he won the gold medal for the same event at the Pan Pacific Para-Swimming Championships in Edmonton, Canada, and collected silver in the 50m backstroke.

"I fully wasn't expecting to win, it's a huge honour. It's always cool to know the university sporting community recognises what you are doing, and to be ranked beside able-bodied athletes," Leslie said.

Unfortunately, he was unable to attend Friday's awards' ceremony as he was at a wheelchair rugby training camp preparing for the Oceanias.

With more than 50 senior caps to her name, Harrison was one of the stars for the New Zealand women's hockey side at this year's Champions Trophy where they won an unprecedented bronze medal.

"I am really happy to win this, especially given that there are so many amazing other athletes here tonight. Achieving something like this is really big for me," she said.

While studying for a Bachelor of Psychology, Hannah Wilkinson made history for Football New Zealand when she scored the final goal in New Zealand's 2-2 draw with Mexico at this year's Women's World Cup.

In drawing that match it was the first time a senior women's team from New Zealand had won a point at a World Cup.

A University Blue is the highest sporting accolade that can be attained at University level. They are part of a tradition dating back to 1922 in New Zealand and earlier in England, where the colours of Oxford and Cambridge Universities came to symbolise excellence in sport.